Tornado Tom feels left in the dark, Lefevere counters.

[DAOTEC]

[Tommeke] Boonen criticised the fact that Lefevere had not re-signed his close friends Jurgen Van De Walle and Maarten Wynants ...

“From Boonen I know I got no suggestions. It is brave to stand up for your mates, it's nice to make friends with your teammates.” But now the former world champion must cope with the fact that they have left his team, Lefevere said.

He is making the best of what he has, and noted that “We are not a Belgian, but a European team.”

At the same time Lefevre is airing that Boonen better start racing again, the pauze has been long enough now.

Tom Boonen: "Dat Lefevere zelf komt spurten"

Source: http://cyclingnews.com/lefevere-defends-himself.html

Will Quick step even get in to the big races next year, with all those high profile teams lining up for 2011 ?

 

[Arnout]

Lefevere. He even is able to upset his only remaining star.

 

[erader]

i read the other day that boonen cancelled out on a charity ride because he had a "cold". i sure hope they are coke testing that boy.

erader

 

[flicker]

Tom went into the darkness with his first "rail"

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, Boonen is in the start of his decline.

Having said that, Lefevre is a grade A jerk and I can't imagine what it would take to be motivated to ride for such an A-Hole.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

He very well could be in the start of his decline. But he's such a huge talent there's still time to get it right before it's too late IF he can get his head back in it 100%... and no more of these time-outs for pleasure. I hope he can.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Tom Boonen: "Dat Lefevere zelf komt spurten"

This is a quote from last year's (09!) TdF. Why do you come up with this now?

 

[El Pistolero]

Boonen has got to be the only cyclist in the world whose career is finished when he finished second in Milan- San Remo, second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, fifth in Paris-Roubaix(he could've won if he didn't miss the attack or at least got second), etc

Sheesh...

 

[Anonymous]

Boonen has got to be the only cyclist in the world whose career is finished when he finished second in Milan- San Remo, second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, fifth in Paris-Roubaix(he could've won if he didn't miss the attack or at least got second), etc

Sheesh...

Pretty major knee issues... 2011 prospects will be much tougher given the quickstep line-up...

Huge talent, yes. But I don't think he's going to be able to 'extend' his career the way Museeuw did.

 

[El Pistolero]

Pretty major knee issues... 2011 prospects will be much tougher given the quickstep line-up...

Huge talent, yes. But I don't think he's going to be able to 'extend' his career the way Museeuw did.

He's over those knee issues already

Now Museeuw's knee issues were major. Not the one from Boonen...

 

[theyoungest]

Boonen has got to be the only cyclist in the world whose career is finished when he finished second in Milan- San Remo, second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, fifth in Paris-Roubaix(he could've won if he didn't miss the attack or at least got second), etc

Sheesh...

You seriously think that?

 

[El Pistolero]

You seriously think that?

Yes, unlike everyone in this forum I don't expect Cancellara to win the RvV and PR combination for 5 years to come =/

 

[Anonymous]

He's over those knee issues already

Now Museeuw's knee issues were major. Not the one from Boonen...

I dunno.

When he makes news for signing up for a cyclo and then doesn't take the start....

I hope I'm wrong but if I were a betting man I think I'd take a pass.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Yes, unlike everyone in this forum I don't expect Cancellara to win the RvV and PR combination for 5 years to come =/

I don't think anyone on this forum believes that.

 

[theyoungest]

Yes, unlike everyone in this forum I don't expect Cancellara to win the RvV and PR combination for 5 years to come =/

That's something else. This year Cancellara was unbeatable, plain and simple.

 

[The Hitch]

Yes, unlike everyone in this forum I don't expect Cancellara to win the RvV and PR combination for 5 years to come =/

I see a huge change in your opinion of Cancellara the moment chances of him being Contadors teammate next year are put to rest. About 1 month ago you said he and Contador were so good they would crush everyone in the ttt dropping their own team in the process. Now that hes left you complain how high the opinion of Cancellara is on this forum. No one said he would win for the next 5 years. But there are a lot easier ways to win paris roubaix than to do a 50km time trial. Personally i think this was Boonens best chance at winning. Its not like attacking from 50k out automatically wins you the race. Cancellara had to waste energy to attack and then go all on his own. Boonen had a group of top class riders with him.
If he had been as good as Cancellara on the day he would have been able to match him on his own. When he found out Canc had gone, the gap was at most 15 seconds - easily small enouth for the strongest rider - had Boonen been that on the day, to catch him. The fact that Cancellara then put in minutes on Boonen and co shows that he was stronger, and if he hadnt succeeded from 50, he would have from 40 or 30 or 20 or 10. He was way too strong on the day.

I agree with you though that report of Boonens demise are premature though. People talk about Gilbert having some super spring because he won a (non monument) classic, and placed high in 2 monuments. Well if we go by that them Tom has also had a great season coming 2nd in 2 monuments and 5th in the 3rd.

 

[orangetea]

My guess is: since Lefevere says he's got only one major sponsor, and since Tom has a contract ending in 2011 he'll be out of the team because they can't pay him anymore...
Which one he will go to? Well IF he's not a part of QS anymore, Riis might come up with some money, he's lost Fabian and I don't think that Nuyens can make Saxo forget him... And Nick and Tom are friends so it could work!

Just some crazy speculation! But it would be cool if we could see Tom ride for another team, it brings some variation in the peleton!

 

[El Pistolero]

I see a huge change in your opinion of Cancellara the moment chances of him being Contadors teammate next year are put to rest. About 1 month ago you said he and Contador were so good they would crush everyone in the ttt dropping their own team in the process. Now that hes left you complain how high the opinion of Cancellara is on this forum. No one said he would win for the next 5 years. But there are a lot easier ways to win paris roubaix than to do a 50km time trial. Personally i think this was Boonens best chance at winning. Its not like attacking from 50k out automatically wins you the race. Cancellara had to waste energy to attack and then go all on his own. Boonen had a group of top class riders with him.
If he had been as good as Cancellara on the day he would have been able to match him on his own. When he found out Canc had gone, the gap was at most 15 seconds - easily small enouth for the strongest rider - had Boonen been that on the day, to catch him. The fact that Cancellara then put in minutes on Boonen and co shows that he was stronger, and if he hadnt succeeded from 50, he would have from 40 or 30 or 20 or 10. He was way too strong on the day.

I agree with you though that report of Boonens demise are premature though. People talk about Gilbert having some super spring because he won a (non monument) classic, and placed high in 2 monuments. Well if we go by that them Tom has also had a great season coming 2nd in 2 monuments and 5th in the 3rd.

Cancellara is still practically unbeatable in a time trial. I fail to see how a team time trial and classics compare? I never said Cancellara was unbeatable in a classic like PR and RvV-NEVER. As a matter of fact, I've always defended Boonen in the classics.

The thing about Paris-Roubaix this year was this... Cancellara attacked, none of those "top riders" responded because they either thought the attack would backfire on him or they just weren't good enough to follow Cancellara. Tom Boonen couldn't respond because he was in the back(his own damn fault, no excuses). When you let someone like Cancellara go it's very difficult to close the gap on a course like that because as I already said he's practically unbeatable in a time trial. But if Boonen could respond to Cancellara's attack he could wheelsuck all the way to the finish and then outsprint Cancellara.

None of these "top riders" wanted to work together with Boonen to close the gap, so he had to do it all him self and that totally exhausted him. Top riders my ***.

 

[TRDean]

Cancellara is still practically unbeatable in a time trial. I fail to see how a team time trial and classics compare? I never said Cancellara was unbeatable in a classic like PR and RvV-NEVER. As a matter of fact, I've always defended Boonen in the classics.

The thing about Paris-Roubaix this year was this... Cancellara attacked, none of those "top riders" responded because they either thought the attack would backfire on him or they just weren't good enough to follow Cancellara. Tom Boonen couldn't respond because he was in the back(his own damn fault, no excuses). When you let someone like Cancellara go it's very difficult to close the gap on a course like that because as I already said he's practically unbeatable in a time trial. But if Boonen could respond to Cancellara's attack he could wheelsuck all the way to the finish and then outsprint Cancellara.

None of these "top riders" wanted to work together with Boonen to close the gap, so he had to do it all him self and that totally exhausted him. Top riders my ***.

I will agree with that...if Boonen had not been sleeping when Canc attacked...my guess is he could have stayed with him. That being the case...there is no way Sparticus beats Tornado in the sprint.

I also agree that the rest of the riders in Boonen's group were pathetic. Plain and simple!

 

[The Hitch]

Cancellara is still practically unbeatable in a time trial. I fail to see how a team time trial and classics compare? I never said Cancellara was unbeatable in a classic like PR and RvV-NEVER. As a matter of fact, I've always defended Boonen in the classics.

The thing about Paris-Roubaix this year was this... Cancellara attacked, none of those "top riders" responded because they either thought the attack would backfire on him or they just weren't good enough to follow Cancellara. Tom Boonen couldn't respond because he was in the back(his own damn fault, no excuses). When you let someone like Cancellara go it's very difficult to close the gap on a course like that because as I already said he's practically unbeatable in a time trial. But if Boonen could respond to Cancellara's attack he could wheelsuck all the way to the finish and then outsprint Cancellara.

None of these "top riders" wanted to work together with Boonen to close the gap, so he had to do it all him self and that totally exhausted him. Top riders my ***.

Exactly. Boonen by himself lost 4 minutes to Cancellara by himself. Shows clearly who was stronger on the day. To say "boonen could have won PR had this and this not happened" as a argument in favour of Boonen having a good classics season, just doesnt work. It would have been really unfair for Boonen to wheelsuck Cancellara to the finish and steal the victory the way Hushovd did over 2nd place to Flecha. Beside Canc dropped boonen on RVV. I think he would have dropped Boonen eventually, had it not worked at 50km.

 

[El Pistolero]

Exactly. Boonen by himself lost 4 minutes to Cancellara by himself. Shows clearly who was stronger on the day. To say "boonen could have won PR had this and this not happened" as a argument in favour of Boonen having a good classics season, just doesnt work. It would have been really unfair for Boonen to wheelsuck Cancellara to the finish and steal the victory the way Hushovd did over 2nd place to Flecha. Beside Canc dropped boonen on RVV. I think he would have dropped Boonen eventually, had it not worked at 50km.

He dropped Boonen on a climb at the RvV, it would've been hard to drop him on a flat part.

It wouldn't have been unfair of Boonen, it would be Boonen using his strengths. With Boonen that's sprinting and with Cancellara that's time trialing. He can do whatever he wishes and if he wants to wheelsuck Cancellara and outsprint him in the finish line then that's his choice.

The strongest doesn't always win.

 

[The Hitch]

He dropped Boonen on a climb at the RvV, it would've been hard to drop him on a flat part.

It wouldn't have been unfair of Boonen, it would be Boonen using his strengths. With Boonen that's sprinting and with Cancellara that's time trialing. He can do whatever he wishes and if he wants to wheelsuck Cancellara and outsprint him in the finish line then that's his choice.

The strongest doesn't always win.

Nope because under this logic, while Boonen is wheelsucking Canc, Hushovd is wheelsucking Boonen and he then beats both of them in the sprint.

 

[El Pistolero]

Nope because under this logic, while Boonen is wheelsucking Canc, Hushovd is wheelsucking Boonen and he then beats both of them in the sprint.

Only Hushovd can't sprint anymore these days. There's not a lot of cyclists that can follow Cancellara's wheel when riding fullout as shown in the RvV. Only Boonen could hang on there untill the climb.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

You seriously think that?

yes he's belgian

 

[tgsgirl]

This is a quote from last year's (09!) TdF. Why do you come up with this now?

Because it's always fun to bash Boonen, even if we have to dig up year old quotes to do it.

Pretty major knee issues... 2011 prospects will be much tougher given the quickstep line-up...

Huge talent, yes. But I don't think he's going to be able to 'extend' his career the way Museeuw did.

The exact same "pretty major" knee problems which troubled Frederik Willems for the first part of 2010. Guess which stage race he just finished, and which championship he's been selected for.